Juniors 1 - 1 Vorwaerts (384898985)

36364 fans braved the pouring rain at SAN SASO. Dinand Nes was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Benny Josefsson and Moritz Flamming. Juniors tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Starters: Krinizky - Restainer, Pukanych, Mendenau - Mangini, Crivelli, Louradour, Hunsberger, Nealon-Meinzolt - Pfäffli, Amann.

Vorwaerts decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. The following players had been chosen: Valdés - La Hoz, Zweig, Möllendorf - Pacheco, Anspach, Brillard, Kosejk, Akburçak - Wöhrl, Wittwer.

The rain made it hard for players like B. Pukanych to show their technical control of the ball on this soggy day. At 17 minutes played, S. Crivelli came in from the right with the intention of giving Juniors the lead, but his rocket of a shot rattled the crossbar. Some great play up the middle by Juniors led to a chance for F. Louradour to score after 21 minutes, but the shot hit the crossbar. Juniors will have to do without B. Pukanych for a time, due to a bad foot injury at the 22 minute mark. He was substituted by M. Nickel. Vorwaerts had to make a substitution after 33 minutes. S. Pacheco limped off the field and was replaced by A. Wabel. There was concern in the stands when, at the 36 minute mark, Juniors's F. Louradour hit the ground hard, but he refused the attention of the trainer and rejoined his teammates on the pitch. 38 minutes had elapsed when a great chance for Juniors to take the lead after a good cross from the right found S. Crivelli alone with the keeper, but he chipped it to the wrong side of the post. 39 minutes in, Juniors's S. Crivelli received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Unfortunately for Vorwaerts, A. Wabel was injured when the game became more physical, and he had to leave the field. A. Hinger replaced him. 0 - 0 was the halftime score. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Juniors, with 53 percent of the ball.

H. Zweig was ever so close to scoring after an excellent corner was beautifully flicked on by G. Brillard, but the ball bounced off the post to safety. 0 - 1 was the score with 83 minutes played, after E. Wittwer cut through the central defence and chipped home a goal for Vorwaerts. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave F. Louradour from Juniors a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 85 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! B. Pfäffli showed the skills that make him a real crowd pleaser as he, after 86 minutes, wove through the guests' entire central defence and put the 1 - 1 equaliser away. The referee showed Vorwaerts's R. La Hoz the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Juniors claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 52 percent.

The most dominating Juniors player was without a doubt F. Louradour. G. Nealon-Meinzolt was a disappointment, however. Vorwaerts's best player was Q. Anspach. However, H. Zweig made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 1 - 1.